POLITICAL PERSONALITIES

THAT HAD IMPACT IN THE

POLITICAL CAREER OF
XI JINPING
 Xi Zhongxun
• Xi Jinping's father ;
• enjoyed a distinguished military career
during the wars with the Japanese and
then the Nationalists, and was working
in the 1950s in the propaganda
ministry.
• In going to the lowest possible level of
government in the country to be an
official, Xi Jinping might have been
following his father's advice to seek
broad and wide experience, and start
from the bottom and work his way
upwards.
 Deng Xiaoping
• In 1992, during a tour of the SEZs, the
ageing Deng recommitted China to the path
of reform.
• His celebrated 'Southern Tour' would have
been witnessed first-hand by Xi, one of the
local officials Deng was seeking to
empower and support as he proceeded
around the zones declaring that China had
to continue to reform and open up, and deal
with problems like June 1989 as they arose.
• It meant that Xi's career could progress. He
was finally elevated to provincial-level
leadership as a deputy governor in 1996.
 Mao Zedong
• The dictator, who caused his own father so
much suffering, and who had such an impact on
his own early life, may not be a person Xi harbours
fond memories of. But the propagandist, the
master of Chinese symbolic politics, the person in
modern China who could be said to have most
truly understood where power was located, how to
use it and how to keep it - his was an inheritance
worth trying to tap into.
Two Maos:
– 1. The dictator who has not been dealt with,
kindly by history.
– 2. Mao the brand, the symbolic Mao.
• Geng Biao- from a traditional military background, a
highly respected soldier already in his sixties when he got to
know the young Xi, and someone who looked like the
veteran of multiple military and political battles; Geng
reportedly told Xi in 1981 or 1982 that he should look for a
more promising career elsewhere.
• Chen Xi- assisted Xi in his study for a PhD when he was a
rising official in the late 1990s, and who was subsequently to
be a mentor and one of Xi's closest confidantes.
• Xiang Nan- When in Fujian, Xi had the good fortune to
work with a veteran leader, Xiang Nan; Xiang Nan was the
master of reform for Fujian, a person who was to perform the
same service for his province as Xi's father had for
Guangdong."
• Peng Liyuan- Xi's second wife; one of the most famous
singers of traditional songs in China.
• Gao Yang- Party secretary of Hebei Province; Gao regarded Xi as
someone from an elite background who was imposed on the province
through family connections, not personal ability. Gao reportedly
suspected that Xi had enjoyed something akin to imperial nepotistic
favour, and had little time either for Xi's leadership style or for him as a
person.
• Li Keqiang & Li Yuanchao
• Bo Xilai- removed from contention because of his wife's involvement
in the murder of a British businessman and the resulting fallout. It has
been little remarked on, but both Chens (Party secretary of Shanghai,
Chen Liangyu) and Bo's falls happened at the best possible moment for
Xi, and made him their main beneficiary.